§ Mr. RONALD McNEILLasked the Minister of Pensions if he is aware that Mr. E. G. Hollamby, reference number 11/M/133,212, now in Tankerton Hospital, Whitstable, suffering from paralysis, was pronounced by a medical board on 27th December, 1917, to be suffering from disability attributable to military service and that this opinion was confirmed by a second board held on 2nd December, 1920; in view of the fact that Hollamby enjoyed good health, as certified by his pre-War employers, for 18 years prior to his enlistment, that his physical development was pronounced to be good by medical examiners at his enlistment in December, 1914, and that the first symptoms of failing health only showed themselves in France in June, 1917, will he say why the Appeal Tribunal of the Ministry refused to endorse the opinion of the 750W medical boards; and what medical authority is responsible for the advice on which the decision of the tribunal was based?
§ Sir G. HEWARTI have been asked to answer this question. I understand that Mr. E. G. Hollamby, a patient in Tankerton Hospital, Whitstable, appealed on the 23rd October, 1920, against the decision of the Ministry of Pensions that his disability was neither attributable to nor aggravated by his services with the forces during the Great War. On receipt of the appeal Mr. Hollamby's case was re-considered by the Ministry, who were unable to alter their decision. The papers were accordingly passed to the Pensions Appeal Tribunals established by the War Pensions (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1919. The appeal was duly considered by the tribunal deputed to hear it, and after careful consideration of the whole of the evidence adduced, the tribunal came to the conclusion that the disabilities on the ground of which the appeal was made, namely, paraplegia and neurasthenia, were neither attributable to nor aggravated by the appellant's service during the Great War. The decision of the tribunal is, under the Statute, final.